Taking The Blame
by Martial Arts Master
Summary: Littlefoot deliberately takes the blame for something that was Cera's fault, and Cera feels guilty about it. What will give her the courage to tell the truth? Please review!


Taking The Blame  
by Martial Arts Master  
All Land Before Time characters copyrighted by Univesal Studios and Universal Cartoon Studios. This takes place after the "Land Before Time VII: Stone of Cold Fire" movie, just like my "Pteradactyl Pondering" fic. Now, let the story begin!  
  
***  
  
"Tag, you're it!" Ducky said, tagging Littlefoot and running away, laughing.  
Littlefoot and his friends were playing Tag, and Ducky used to be it, but now she had tagged Littlefoot.  
Littlefoot chuckled and said, "Maybe, but not for long!"  
Littlefoot bounded after his friends, who ran away from him.  
"Nah nah, can't catch me!" Cera said.  
"Wanna bet?" Littlefoot asked rhetorically. He ran after Cera, while the others ran in different directions.  
At the last minute, Cera jumped to the side, and Littlefoot inadvertantly ran into a tree.  
"Ow!" Littlefoot said, rubbing his head ruefully with one of his forelegs. Playing Tag with his friends was fun, but Littlefoot sometimes thought that it had its drawbacks.  
"Ha! I told you that you couldn't catch me!" Cera said.  
Suddenly Littlefoot darted forward and almost tagged Cera, but Cera jumped nimbly aside.  
Cera laughed and ran towards the middle of the Great Valley, with Littlefoot following after.  
"Why does Littlefoot only chase Cera? It makes no sense, no, no, no," Ducky said.  
"Me think it because of Cera taunting Littlefoot," Petrie said.  
Spike just nodded and made a grunt of agreement.  
Littlefoot was still chasing Cera, trying to tag her, when he noticed something.  
"Cera, watch out, you're heading straight towards a nest!" Littlefoot cried out.  
Cera, who wasn't watching where she was going, said, "Nice try! You're just trying to make me slow down so you can catch me!"  
"No, Cera, you're really heading towards a nest!" Littlefoot said.  
"Yeah right!" Cera called back. But she really was heading towards a nest, and what was worse, it was her dad's nest! Well, actually her mother's nest, but her mother wasn't there right now. Cera realized this too late, and she crashed into the nest, with the eggs spilling out. Luckily, they weren't broken.  
Unfortunately, Cera's dad happened to look back at the nest and was horrified to find out its current condition. He angrily charged over to Cera and Littlefoot, with Petrie, Spike, and Ducky having caught up to them.  
"CERA!" Cera's dad bellowed, furious. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"  
Cera trembled a little. When her dad was made, about half of the valley usually heard him yell. But that wasn't what worried Cera. What worried Cera was that her dad was sure to punish her.  
Littlefoots grandparents had come over to see what had happened, for they apparently were the only one's who had heard Cera's father yell this time.  
"Um---um---" Cera stammered, looking for a way out.  
Littlefoot, meanwhile, realized that he wasn't going to get in trouble, judging by the facts that his grandparents didn't look angry. Cera, on the other hand, was going to get in a HEAP of trouble. Her father was known to be the strictest parent in the valley, and although he did love his daughter, he didn't show it very often. Littlefoot felt sorry for Cera. The rational thing to do, though, was to let Cera suffer the consequences of her own actions. Littlefoot was the rational one of the group, after all, and had demonstrated this many times. For example, only he had gone the right way at first towards the Great Valley, while the others took Cera's easier but completely wrong way. Only Littlefoot had realized that Chomper had feelings just like his friends did. Littlefoot had been the one to tell Hyp to stop moving while he was in the tar pit. In fact, Littlefoot had been told recently that his mind was quite advanced for his species, and then that his mind was advanced for someone so young.  
At least, that's what Petrie, Ducky, and Spike thought of Littlefoot after he'd told them what the rainbow faces had said to him. But Littlefoot didn't really think of himself as rational, and right now, he felt guilty that Cera was going to get into so much trouble. So Littlefoot, having not as much to lose, decided to get Cera out of trouble.  
"It was my fault," Littlefoot said.  
The grown-ups looked at him with surprise, and so did Cera.  
"We were playing Tag, and I inadvertantly chased her into the nest," Littlefoot said. He left out the part about him trying to warn Cera, certain that it would only incriminate her.  
"Hmph!" Cera's father said, then turned to Cera.  
"I guess it wasn't your fault, then," he said to his daughter. "But next time try playing a different game."  
The sun was setting just then, so Cera's father motioned for Cera to follow him so she could go to bed, and Cera followed him momentarily shooting a grateful look towards Littlefoot.  
Littlefoot's grandfather sighed.  
"Come with me and your grandmother, Littlefoot," he said. "I think we need to talk."  
"Ok," Littlefoot said reluctantly. He was about to get into trouble about something that was Cera's fault, but at least he wasn't going to get into as much trouble as Cera would have gotten into had Littlefoot not taken the blame. Ducky, Petrie, and Spike didn't mention that it was Cera's fault, sensing Littlefoot's intentions.  
"What were you thinking, Littlefoot?" Littlefoot's grandmother asked him that night.  
"I'm sorry," Littlefoot said. "No excuses. I should have been more careful."  
"Littlefoot, we know that you only had the best intentions at heart," Littlefoot's grandfather said, "because that's the kind of long-neck you are. Still, you're right, you should have been more careful. However, in light of the fact that nothing was damaged, and in light of the fact that you admitted you were mistaken, we won't punish you. THIS time."  
"Thanks, Grandpa," Littlefoot said gratefully.  
"But next time, be more careful," Littlefoot's grandmother said. "Next time, we might not be so lenient."  
"I'll be more careful," Littlefoot said. He went to sleep soon afterwards.  
  
The next morning, when Littlefoot's friends had gathered, Littlefoot was nowhere to be seen.  
"Where Littlefoot go?" Petrie asked.  
"He probably does not want to face us after yesterday," Ducky said. "Yup, yup, yup, that is probably it."  
Cera, meanwhile, felt horrible. She'd been so grateful to Littlefoot for getting her out of trouble yesterday, but now she felt guilty. For all she knew, Littlefoot might have gotten punished, and THAT was why he didn't come.  
"Maybe we should go look for him, we should, we should," Ducky saidl.  
"Good idea," Petrie said.  
"Yeah, whatever," Cera said. They went off to look for Littlefoot.  
  
Littlefoot, meanwhile, was in a secluded region of the Great Valley that hardly anyone ever visited. He was dejectedly chewing on some tree stars, or leaves as we present-day humans now call them.  
Littlefoot sighed. He had gotten Cera out of trouble, all right, but what good had that done HIM? He couldn't face Cera now. For all he knew, she'd probably taunt him with his situation.  
"Great, could things get any worse?" Littlefoot asked himself.  
"They just did," said two voices behind him.  
Littlefoot turned around and saw the two fliers that had been with Pterano.  
Littlefoot opened his mouth to scream, but the gray one wrestled him to the ground with one hand and both wings, while the pink one clamped his mouth shut.  
"Pipe down, you annoying little long-neck!" the gray one said. "It's the fault of you and your friends that Pterano got kicked out of the valley! Now he won't work with us anymore!"  
"Oh, and we were never properly introduced," the pink one said. "I'm Rinkus, and my friend here is Sierra."  
Littlefoot tried to shout something, but his words were muffled thanks to his mouth being clamped shut by Rinkus.  
It didn't sound like he was trying to tell anybody about being attacked, so Rinkus unclamped his mouth and asked, "What was that?"  
"I asked you what you were planning to do to me!" Littlefoot shouted, making Rinkus's ears wince. Sierra, being tougher, didn't even flinch.  
"We're gonna get our revenge on you," Sierra said, chuckling evily. He raised something he was holding in the hand that wasn't holding Littlefoot. Littlefoot saw that it was a piece of rock that had the edges sharpened to the point where it could really hurt someone.  
"You're gonna get to join whatever dead relatives you may have REAL soon!" Sierra said, raising the knife-like rock over Littlefoot's heart. Littlefoot realized with horror that Sierra was going to kill him!  
Littlefoot tried to scream, but Rinkus, having anticipatied this, had clamped Littlefoot's mouth shut again.  
Sierra brought the knife-like rock down, but before he could stab Littlefoot something plowed into both him and Rinkus, knocking them off of Littlefoot. Littlefoot looked up and saw Cera, facing the fliers and pawing the ground.  
Littlefoot stood up and sighed with relief, and Ducky, Spike, and Petrie arrived.  
"You leave Littlefoot alone!" Petrie said, flying above the flier's heads.  
"Why don't you make us, you little pest!" Rinkus said, snatching at Petrie. Petrie narrowly dodged it, and said, "Spike, now!"  
Spike, having brought a boulder, whacked the boulder with his tail, which was his strongest asset thanks to the fact that he was a spike-tail. The boulder smacked Rinkus and Sierra and knocked them clear into the horizon.  
"Whew," Littlefoot said. "Thanks."  
"Do not mention it, Littlefoot," Ducky said.  
"You know, I think this little adventure has given me the courage I need to tell my father the truth," Cera said.  
"You should tell your father right now," Ducky said.  
"I think I will," Cera said, running off to tell her father the truth.  
  
That night...  
  
Cera had been punished by her father, but since she owned up to her mistake without letting her father find out on his own, her punishment was only having to go to bed earlier.  
Meanwhile, with Littlefoot's grandparents, after they found out that the nest collision wasn't Littlefoot's fault after all...  
"But Littlefoot, why didn't you TELL us you tried to warn Cera away from the nest?" Littlefoot's grandfather asked. "We wouldn't have needed that little talk last night."  
"Well, I knew how strict Cera's dad was," Littlefoot said, "so I thought I'd give her a break."  
"Littlefoot, what you did was very noble, and nobleness is a quality I value," Littlefoot's grandmother said.  
Littlefoot, however, could hear a "but" coming, and he was right.  
"But you were TOO noble," his grandmother continued. "Sometimes you have to let others solve their own problems. Taking the blame was a nice gesture, but not the best one."  
"Maybe," Littlefoot said reluctantly.  
Littlefoot's grandfather chuckled.  
"Littlefoot, sometimes you're too nice for your own good," he said. "Now go to sleep."  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@msn.com. 


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